Some of the Occupy General Assemblies have voiced support for the concept of online general assemblies. Most of the current sites devoted to the Occupy Movement are growing out of communities that exist physically. We in this forum are generally meeting each other through the internet. This forum is for looking at the questions of how we adapt the processes and procedures that have served the occupy movement to the online world.

Last edited by randallburns on Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:59 pm; edited 1 time in total

I think we need to figure out how to enlarge our online community. I envision finding a way to allow people all over the USA to come to one website to vote on the Declaration and grievances. In fact, I think that is crucial if we are to be a successful movement. We must know what people everywhere are thinking.

The internet is inherently decentralized-but a lot of stuff like forum software isn't designed the a consensus model of decision making an online general assembly really needs. I don't see this as a matter of creating "one site". I think is more a matter of enabling a variety of sites to work together constructively.

You are 100% right that understanding what people across the USA is thinking is crucial. The way politicians typically do this is to watch polls like a hawk-and sometimes they commission their own polls. I think it would behoove the occupy movement to conduct very careful polls when making any important moves or announcements. That isn't as daunting as it might sound. There are a lot of volunteers that could learn to make the phone calls necessary to get a sample of the public.

I think one function an online general assembly might serve is to enable a quick approximation of scientific polls. It would require some work, but it would be possible to adjust the kinds of samples one can get online to get an indication of what the US public was thinking.

Yes! Why don't we get an online poll going? I don't see the reason for having to use phones, when the internet is free! Who knows how to do that? That is someone we really need to talk with. Do you know someone?

P.S. I am so frustrated at the lack of organization of the topics. I post something and then a short time later, I can't even find what I posted, because there are so many topics.... it is way out of hand!

I think we need to have someone who has the skills for doing it, to organize the topics right away and delete (or merge) all of the topic redundancies..... and post a final note on each one as to where to go to continue the discussion for that topic.

simplee wrote:Yes! Why don't we get an online poll going? I don't see the reason for having to use phones, when the internet is free! Who knows how to do that? That is someone we really need to talk with. Do you know someone?

Years ago, I worked at the National Opinion Research Center(I helped with an early alcoholism survey). Now, I think folks still tend to use phones because a lot of people still aren't on the net-and it is easier to get a representative sample that way. One way this might be done on the net is to get a group that represent key political demographics-and then weight their vote to approximate how those groups are represented in the US population. This is an interesting characterization of the politics of the US as a whole:http://www.people-press.org/search/typology/

There is another person here that may have more polling experience than I do-I mostly worked in the computer systems side, so my knowledge is a bit limited(but I picked up a few of the basics).

I worked, in various capacities, for several research companies, beginning in 1984 and left the field in 2001.

I spent 7 years with the company who conducted ABC news polls and the national exit polls. Most of my work was managerial and quality control. I left after working as a study director for several years.

It was actually the same week of 9/11 that I quit. Someone who worked in our group lost his brother in the towers. I was conducting a poll for Good Morning America about what kids wanted to wear for Halloween. Needless to say, that little survey was scrapped the next day.

I couldn't do another survey about pointless information. Or anymore research for big corporations either.

But I would be willing to work on this project. You will however need someone with more credentials than me to create the perfect poll, to construct the methodology and so forth. Someone with a PHD. I can do study maintenance and final analysis (if analysis is desired). I may be able to look up a few folks, its been a while though and have lost contact with most of them.

randallburns wrote:The internet is inherently decentralized-but a lot of stuff like forum software isn't designed the a consensus model of decision making an online general assembly really needs. I don't see this as a matter of creating "one site". I think is more a matter of enabling a variety of sites to work together constructively.

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i'd agree with this; if you've created a poll on an external site, then several groups (online or otherwise) can participate and the poll can highlight which particular groups have voted to give it a credibility rating as regards to sections of society that have been represented.

We've been talking at Occupy Daily Kos and amongst the Concerned Citizens Coalition about the possibility of creating a central hub for occupy (we're probably not the only ones) that would have top-level messaging, information on the NGA, working draft of the Petition, sections for action plans, news feeds, inspiration, data, forums divided by topic, local directories, and perhaps other features.

A group of us involved with the Rally to Restore Sanity actually drafted a lot of stuff that may be applicable to the structure of this, as we had planned something similar.

There are numerous sites that could serve this purpose...Occupy Together, Occupy the Future, and 99Declaration. Perhaps there are other names that should be considered as well? Don't know if these are available, but off the top of my head...

I have taken out several names and beta tested (sort of) a forum application. If anyone wants to moderate or admin this type of thing, let me know by PM. Unfortunately, I run a small business, and do not really have the time (or programming expertise) to put into it, but I'll give what time I can.-Paul